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Alpo

The sole access road to my home goes through a pretty remote area, so it is very common for all sorts of wildlife to suddenly appear, perhaps one out of every three nights when I drive home from work; I'm used to it, and take care to stay alert. This morning was no exception; a small family of deer greeted me as I drove home around 4. But something else also caught my eye, too: a critter that didn't move off of the road. That usually implies a death or severe injury, which also happens a lot. Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was a kitten that had lodged its skull deep inside an open can. When I first saw the red label on the can, I thought "Campbell" would be a fun name for a cat, but when I got closer to the cat-plus-can, I saw that the label actually said, "Alpo". Especially since we were on a tight curve in the road, it was obvious that sitting in the middle of the street would yield roadkill within minutes. It was confused, not moving; its eyes, nose and mouth were all tightly covered, and probably having trouble breathing. I thought its rear legs may had already gotten hit. I gently picked it up, put it off to the side of the road, then reconsidered and put it into my car.

When I got home, I woke up Cat Lady, told her we had a problem, took her to the quarantine room, and said, "Meet Alpo". The poor thing was still not moving. We were not able to remove the can, and couldn't find an emergency veterinarian that would pick up the phone. I guessed (correctly) that a local truck-stop garage would be open at that hour, so we took the cat there, in search of a pair of scissors that could cut through metal. While I was talking to the clerk, though, Cat Lady came in from the car with a now can-less cat.

Alpo was less frantic on the ride home than we would've expected, and socialized well with us once we got home, so we guessed that it may have had human contact before. On the other hand, its fur was highly matted, and it was obviously starved and dirty, with no collar, so regardless of whether it was abandoned or feral, we didn't want to return it to its prior environment. Cat Lady's taking it to the vet after I leave for work today, for its shots, de-flea'ing, gender identification and a full-body shave; neutering will follow later. Hopefully we can integrate Alpo into the rest of the cat family, but we have high hopes, given how affectionate its been since it can see and move.